It’s impressive how much J.J. Abrams and the folks at Bad Robot manage to pack into the new teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness without revealing, well, the actual plot of the summer 2013 sequel. Space action! Benedict Cumberbatch ! That darned hands-on-glass scene that just screams ” I have been and always shall be your friend !” Watch the action-packed teaser below and let’s get to piecing together the puzzle. The teaser is big on setting up an ambiguous adversarial relationship between Kirk (Chris Pine) and Cumberbatch, but Captain Pike’s voice over seems more telling of the themes Star Trek Into Darkness will hit: Kirk’s bravado, and the danger it poses to his crew. Despite the out of context flashes of intriguing set pieces — Star Wars ian spaceship action, that leap off a cliff, that other leap off a building, and what appears to be the Enterprise crash-landing in water — the hands moment ends the tease with a clear nod to Wrath of Khan , although we can’t tell who’s on what side of the glass. Still, something tells me there are more clues hidden in this teaser than we might think, like this brief shot of Noel Clarke’s as-yet unidentified character. As seen in the first nine minutes of the film , Clarke plays a man whose ailing daughter Cumberbatch approaches at a London hospital and offers to save. Here we see him in a possibly-Starfleet uniform as he appears to drop a thumble full of something into a glass of water — perhaps fulfilling his end of his deal with the Cumber-Devil? What intriguing bits and clues do you see in the teaser? Chime in below. Star Trek Into Darkness hits theaters May 17, 2013. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Last night marked Kate Middleton’s first public appearance since being hospitalized with morning sickness this month – and it was a TV appearance at that! The glowing Duchess of Cambridge, in a green Alexander McQueen dress, was on hand to give out awards at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony. Kate Middleton at BBC Sports Awards No real sign of a baby bump yet from Kate, but her very appearance is a hopeful sign that the ailing, expecting 30-year-old is getting better in recent days. It also marked her first appearance since the death of Jacintha Saldanha. The 46-year-old nurse killed herself following the royal prank phone call scandal , an event that was said to have deeply saddened the pregnant Duchess. In any case, Middleton is feeling much better than even 72 hours ago. On Thursday, Prince William attended the UK premiere of The Hobbit solo. That was apparently too long for her, but she made her return to the public eye Sunday. “While the Duchess does not feel ready to attend a four-hour engagement she is keen to show her support to the UK’s sportsmen and women,” said a royal source. “This prestigious event caps a momentous year for British sport.” Kate Middleton , who attended several events during the 2012 London Olympics, joined former LA Galaxy soccer star David Beckham to hand out awards. We’re glad she’s feeling better – and she looks great!
‘It taught me who I was, and that music didn’t make me,’ Ma$e tells ‘RapFix Live’ of his leaving hip-hop for the church. By Nadeska Alexis Ma$e Photo: MTV News
‘One Direction really opened the gate,’ British girl band tells MTV News of crossover success. By Jocelyn Vena Little Mix attend the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball at 02 Arena on December 8, 2012 in London, England. Photo: Fred Duval/ Getty Images
Emblem3 is no longer in the running for a $5 million grand prize, following last night’s X Factor elimination . But you wouldn’t know it talking to group members Wesley Stromberg, Keaton Stromberg and Drew Chadwick. “Honestly, I only feel happy right now,” Wesley told reporters after the show. “We get to go and make some badass music right now and not be under any restrictions.” Chadwick was equally enthused: “Bottom line is we had the dopest experience. We got everything we really wanted out of this competition, which was a solid international fan base, we expanded our comfort zone by stepping out of it, we learned how to do interviews. It was like training, like music industry on Miracle-Gro. “We just learned a lot and now it’s over and we’re about to go do it for real. We built the foundation we entered the competition to build.” He also chimed in on L.A. Reid leaving the show: “I think L.A. Reid is more of a creative, behind the scenes production type of dude. Reality TV is more about the TV show and producing the television show more than the music. Me and him have a lot in common that sense.” As for who Chadwick thinks should take home the title? “Carly is 13 years old, she’s an amazing singer, she’s going to be doing great things with the talent she’s been given. [ Tate Stevens ] is a little bit older. “He’s amazing, he’s been playing music for a long time, he’s a family man, he has a great heart, he has pure intentions, he’s a good guy. I feel like he really deserves this. He needs a break. I love Tate. I love Carly and I love Fifth harmony too, but I think he’s the most deserving.” Very kind words all around. What do you think of Emblem3’s elimination? Was it deserved? Yes, but what a season! No, it should have been Carly Rose! No, it should have been Tate! No, it should have been Fifth Harmony! View Poll »
The nurse in the Kate Middleton hoax may have hanged herself in part because the hospital came down on her very hard after falling for the infamous prank call. TMZ, via the Daily Mail, claims that in one of her three suicide notes , Jacintha Saldanha was critical of the London hospital for the treatment she received. The story does not explicitly state that this treatment is connected to the hoax. It appears to be the case, however, given one of the other suicide notes, which describes how she tried to cope with the fallout due to the Kate Middleton prank call . The story has raised a new round of questions surrounding the tragic case, which unraveled last week after Kate was hospitalized with acute morning sickness. The parties responsible for the prank played a role in the nurse’s death – and are keenly aware of and devastated by that fact – but there are other factors to consider. Did her superiors come down on her hard after the hoax, in which two Sydney DJs impersonated the Queen and Prince Charles, inquiring about Kate’s health? Could their reaction have impacted or changed the events that followed? A hospital spokesperson claims hospital management was supportive of Saldanha, but they are not privy to what Jacintha Saldanha wrote in the notes. As for the third note, the report claims the nurse, a married mother of two, laid out plans for her funeral. She then killes herself, reportedly via hanging. She was 46.
Will you give him the benefit of the doubt and watch an episode? Our favorite minstrel man is back on network television with not one but two new shows that are set for production next year. Tyler Perry’s teamed up with his number one cheerleader Oprah and her OWN Network, where he’ll be writing, directing, and executive producing “The Haves and the Have Nots”; a drama about a family and their housekeeper and “Love Thy Neighbor”; a multicamera comedy set in a diner. According to The Hollywood Reporter , this is just the first two of many projects the duo’s got planned: Two months after inking Tyler Perry to an overall deal and announcing its move into scripted fare, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network has announced the pair of series to be overseen by the multihyphenate. Perry will write, direct and executive produce a comedy and a drama for the Harpo and Discovery Communications joint venture, with both series hailing from his Tyler Perry Studios banner for OWN. The two entries will begin production early next year and bow in mid-2013. The Haves and the Have Nots is a drama about the dynamics of the affluent Cyrer family and the impoverished family of their housekeeper, Hanna, and the obstacles and secrets that exist within both. Love Thy Neighbor, meanwhile, is a multicamera comedy set at Love’s Diner, where every day the menu serves up good food, great laughs, valuable life lessons and a lot of love for its zany neighbors. Episode orders for both projects are unclear with additional writers and producers expected to be added. OWN inked Perry — the prolific writer, director, producer and actor behind the Madea features, among several other stage and small-screen projects — to a multiyear pact in October to produce original content for the cabler. Before the deal, Perry’s TV efforts were housed at Turner-owned TBS, where the network launched half-hours Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, Meet the Browns and For Better or Worse. Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav, speaking Dec. 4 at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in London, expressed confidence in OWN, noting its recent ratings growth puts the channel as one of the top three growing networks and noting he expected it to be profitable in the second half of 2013 as he forecast its growth to go from 80 million to 85 million homes. “The cherry on top is we got Tyler Perry,” Zaslav told investors at the time. November marked OWN’s 10th consecutive month of year-over-year ratings growth. Will you watch? Images via WENN/tumblr
Introducing a sneak peek at the first nine minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness in a special IMAX 3-D presentation for press Sunday night, director J.J. Abrams warned of the “doom and gloom” throughout his May 2013 sequel. “There’s a lot of intensity in this, and a little bit of gloom,” he admitted, “but it’s also fun.” In true Abrams fashion, that’s about all he said before he exited the theater, taking the truth about who the heck Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in Star Trek 2 with him. (The first nine minutes will debut in theaters on December 14, attached to select IMAX screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey . Read on for details, speculation, guesstimates, and wild theorizing about what’s in store in Star Trek 2 based on the tease.) What’s revealed in the first nine minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness isn’t so much telling as it is intriguing, moreso for the Trek fans out there who’ll get every little familiar line of dialogue and nod to the O.G. Trek series, of which there are many. But fair warning, Trekkies: Judging from this tease and the footage Paramount has already released, Abrams knows that you’re reading into every little clue — and he’s playing you like a violin. Here’s why: Star Trek Into Darkness opens in a prologue, in a beautifully shot, blue-tinged London, Stardate 2259.55. A couple (Noel Clarke and Nazneen Contractor) wake up and drive their hover car to visit their child in the hospital. We don’t know their names, or hear them speak, but we wonder; could their last name possibly, just possibly, be Singh? Maybe, maybe not. Their sick child is a daughter (strike that, it’s not a young Khan — or is it ??*), bedridden by an unspecified illness. The father is approached by a stranger whose voice we hear first: “I can save her.” It’s Benedict Cumberbatch, and he’s the villain, which we know because the camera closes in until his face fills the IMAX screen as Michael Giacchino’s score swells with tense, ominous notes. Cut to the crew of the Enterprise, who we find in the middle of their latest mission on the Class-M planet Nibiru, where Bones and Kirk are racing through vivid red-tinged forests being chased by members of a chalk-faced, spear-chucking indigenous race. From a cruiser flying in the skies above, Spock drops into an erupting volcano to save the planet as Uhura looks on. Regrouping with the rest of the crew on the Enterprise — which is parked discreetly underwater in the middle of an ocean — Kirk wrestles with a familiar-sounding quandary: Save Spock by taking the Enterprise out of hiding, therefore violating the Prime Directive by exposing the inhabitants of Nibiru to technology they’re not ready for, or sacrifice Spock because, as one character indeed utters, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Kirk asks what Spock would do if their situations were reversed. “He’d let you die,” Bones replies, and the opening sequence closes with a cliffhanger. More previously seen trailer-y shots close out the nine-minute sneak, with Cumberbatch growling lines like “You think you’re safe? You are not ” and “Is there anything you would not do for your family?” Alas, it doesn’t offer any further details of the hands-on-glass shot that had Trek -watchers a’flutter watching the recently-released Japanese trailer. At this point I’ve heard about a thousand differing theories as to whom exactly Cumberbatch’s villain will turn out to be. My first thought during the nine-minute prologue was Khan, because YOU GUYS THEY QUOTE WRATH OF KHAN , but there’s something about that idea that seems just too easy. I’m leaning toward an amalgam of Gary Mitchell and Khan, an idea so crazy it might just work in this new Abrams era of playing in the Trek sandbox without having to stay within previously established canon. Why not make the ‘Batch some sort of Mitchell-Khan hybrid? Try this on for size: Benemitchell Khanderbatch . Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It’s worth noting that, while Star Trek Into Darkness was post-converted to 3-D, the 3-D footage went over well. There are a good many close-ups and scenes featuring brilliantly vivid, swirling pieces of debris and lava and even, at one point, a barrage of spears raining down around Kirk and McCoy as they run through the jungle in a sequence that so calls to mind Raiders of the Lost Ark that it’s probably safe to call it homage. *This is completely wild, “What if?” speculation, but how cool would it be if Abrams’ Trek films did introduce Khan — only as a woman? Discuss . Star Trek Into Darkness is in theaters May 17, 2013; look for the nine-minute preview attached to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in select IMAX screenings, full list here . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Friday’s apparent Brooke Mueller overdose was nothing of the sort, Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife says … she was just exhausted from a jewelry-making bonanza. Seriously. Brooke was found unresponsive at 11 a.m. that day and her assistant called 911; Mueller was rushed to a nearby hospital and discharged a few hours later. The assistant mentioned Brooke Mueller’s history of drug abuse when she was talking to the 911 operator, but later said, “I made a mistake … I overreacted.” Did she? Understandably, friends and family members, including her mother, have been very worried about Brooke’s drug abuse for the past couple of weeks. One can understand why they’d be skeptical of her explanation – that she’d been making jewelry nonstop for the past several days and passed out due to exhaustion. The 35-year-old’s jewelry-making binge also explains the nasty, sketchy, charred-looking black marks all over her hands (above), according to Brooke. It’s just black spray paint, which she uses to make the pieces. Why she didn’t wash her hands before heading out in public looking spaced out (above), we can’t say, but Mueller says she’s been sober for months now. For some reason, few seem to fully take her word for that . You believe Brooke Mueller’s side of the story? Yes, cut her some slack! No, she’s totes on crack! View Poll »
The first photo of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who committed suicide after falling for a prank call involving Kate Middleton, has been released by Scotland Yard. Saldanha passed away hours after being duped by the Kate Middleton prank call , in which two Australian DJ’s pretended to be Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. Scotland Yard sent out the haunting snap-shot of Saldanha, the nurse on-call at King Edward VII Hospital in London, and whose demise is now under investigation. The 46-year-old’s death is currently listed as “unexplained.” An autopsy will be held next week, according to authorities. Saldanha’s family said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha. We would ask that the media respect out privacy at this difficult time.” The Australian radio station behind the call also issued a statement Saturday, stating it did nothing wrong and there was no way to have foreseen the tragic outcome. The two DJ’s have suspended themselves from the air. Police in London have contacted their Australian counterparts about speaking with the two radio personalities, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, about the case. While the station claims it did nothing wrong, Greig and Christian’s call, which helped reveal details about the Duchess of Cambridge’s health, was certainly marginal. Nick Kaldas, deputy commissioner for New South Wales Police said: “It hasn’t been indicated to us that an offense has occurred and they have not actually asked for anything yet. “They’ve simply touched base, let us know of their interest and they will get back to us if they actually want something done. Nothing has been requested of us yet.” Kate Middleton Prank Call “As our colleagues in London continue to examine events leading up to the death of Jacintha Saldanha, we will be providing them with whatever assistance is required.” For what it’s worth, the DJs have so far remained tight-lipped after the incident, but are receiving “intensive psychological counseling” to deal with the tragedy. A spokeswoman said that Australian the pair would be speaking with the media, but when would depend on their state of mind, which was described as “fragile.”
